Lockstep ladders were first introduced over fifty years ago. A lockstep is used to raise a rolling ladder, also commonly know as a rolling staircase, into its rolling position and when stepped on, drops the ladder's feet to the ground thereby locking it in the climbing position.
Since their inception all locksteps have functioned basically the same way. A lever is used to raise the ladder into the rolling position and it is held in place by a hook which is generally kept in place by a tension spring. The original design of the lockstep uses the bottom step as a lever. The step pivots on its rear edge and the front of the step is raised when the ladder is in the rolling position. When the user steps on the first step of the ladder the front of the step is rotated down by the weight of user, releasing the lockstep and dropping the feet to the floor putting the ladder in the climbing position.
This design worked well for many years but had significant functional and safety problems. Functionally, the ladder was difficult to put in the rolling position for taller, heavier ladders. The step needed to be lifted up with the top of the foot to put the ladder in the rolling position, the heavier the ladder the more difficult this was to do. The safety problem came into play primarily when the ladder was left on a retail store floor unattended and in the rolling position. In this position the front of the step was up. Shoppers, often children, would sit on the lowest step and generally grab the step as they were sitting. The ladder was released by their body weight as they were sitting and would severely pinch and in some cases sever shoppers' fingers.
In the late 1990's ladder manufactures all became painfully aware of this problem as accident victims sued the manufacturers. Since that time most manufactures changed to a new design which involves two separate levers, a pedal to lift the ladder into the rolling position and a trip bar to release the ladder, dropping it to the floor. In this prior art design the step does not move. The trip bar is positioned in front of the step so that when the user steps on the bottom step his foot pushes the trip bar down releasing the lockstep and the ladder feet drop to the ground for climbing. This design eliminates the safety problem and works well, however this prior art lockstep has two areas where improvement would be desirable. First, it has two levers: the pedal and the trip bar. Users get confused and try to lift the ladder by pushing on the trip bar breaking the lockstep. Second, the trip bar can be easily stepped over or bent out of position from stepping on it as described above. This action allows the ladder to be climbed in the rolling position a violation of OSHA and ANSI safety regulations. This also creates a durability problem since the lockstep is designed to support the weight of the ladder in the rolling position not a ladder and person.